Monday, November 16, 2009

This, in case you were wondering, is a rare picture of Yassir Arafat's daughter Zahwa, with her mother Suha. The two have, for the past two years, been living in Malta, since being expelled from Tunisia.

Zahwa is now 14. According to Suha, who spoke last week to a Saudi Arabian paper (where this picture was originally published - it was republished in Yediot), "Zahwa is very similar to Abu Amar [Arafat]: stubborn, sensitive, loves music and in particular efficient, curious and interested in detail. Arafat required that she learn Arabic. She also follows the news the whole time. During the Gaza war she collected donations and sent them to the Palestinian children."

Asked when she will return to the PA, Suha adds, "There is no moment when I am not dreaming of returning to Palestine. First Zahwa will finish her high school studies, then she will go like me to university, and then she will think how she will enlist to serve our nation in Palestine. She very much wants to return home, but is afraid of the war in the territories."